Burmese

Abstract

Political oppression and the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar led to an increase in the number of refugees and other immigrants from Myanmar arriving in Japan at the end of the twentieth century. These immigrants from Myanmar have subsequently established several communities, including downtown Tokyo’s ‘Little Yangon’, with a diverse mixture of languages, ethnic groups, and religions. Most of them understand Burmese as a common language, and their social networks have been strengthened by various Burmese media and events in Japan. With the increase in the number of immigrants, refugees, and technical interns from Myanmar, it is necessary to gain a picture of the position of the Burmese language and its sociolinguistic environment in Japan. However, this has attracted little attention from academics thus far. Therefore, this chapter provides a general overview of the development and context of the lives of Burmese-speaking immigrants to Japan from Myanmar as well as their common linguistic usage patterns.